North Texas Boy Undergoes Revolutionary Brain Surgery

Sam Gladen was awake during deep brain stimulation aimed at treating dystonia.

Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth is the first hospital in the United States to implement a pediatric deep brain stimulation program for children diagnosed with movement disorders.

The hospital's neuroscience team performed its first surgery in Sept., 2007, but the May 2009 surgery on a boy from Lake Dallas could be described as the public debut.

Sam Gladen was diagnosed with dystonia, a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily.   In Sam, it started with a limp in his left and eventually he stopped walking.

Sam's pediatric neurologist at Cook Children's suggested DBS treatment for Sam, but it would require the 13-year-old to be awake during surgery and came with no guarantee of success.

NBC 5 had cameras there from the operating room to the follow up visits and watched as the Gladen family experienced what it describes as a "miracle".  

Links:
Cook Children's Neurosciences - Pediatric Deep Brain Stimulation
Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
DFW Dystonia Symposium - January 24, 2009

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